Solar panels advice

[JamesO]

Recently moved into our forever home and are looking into solar panels with the price of electric going mad. I work from home so will benefit more from the solar panels. Also no VAT on them at the moment. 

 

Wondered if anyone else has had them installed. Are they worth it? I am worried that in the winter we wouldn't get much power from them making it not worth it. Looking at getting a battery system had a quote for a 4.8kwh battery and 15 solar panels for £13,000. Moved to Northamptonshire if anyone has any recommendations nearby. 

 

Thanks. 

[Greg2607]

is that capital that you pay upfront? or is it spread across the lifetime of the product? interested myself in this....  Also... bear in mind that Solar doesn't technically need sunshine... just daylight... so you'll still generate in the winter...

[JamesO]

All upfront cost. But i was reading about Eon that provide finance plans. 

 

Yeah i was speaking to someone about their solar. They said winter cloud days they hardly get any electricity from them.  Getting a few quotes then will see what warranty each company will provide for the solar panels. The battery can be stored in the loft which is ideal for us.  

[Greg2607]

I think that is almost the perfect example of where Solar might fail for alot of people. 

 

I dare say there will be large swathes of the population that don't have the money for the upfront cost. 

 

I'd love to get them installed... by the same token, in the current climate, i'd also love the safety net of the £13k in my bank account to buffer against inflation...  despite knowing full well, that the solar would reduce the energy bills and buffer me against energy inflation! 

 

It's a real catch 22. 

[JamesO]

Yeah i agree. The only reason we are thinking about it as we have some profit from our other house and thinking its a good investment, But i am like yourself, i would rather have the money for rainy day money. 

[ajthefox]

Have you enquired about solar thermal or a combination of both? Worth looking into it.

[JamesO]

I have enquired about solar to heat the water. But unfortunately we have a combi boiler and have been told its not possible. 

[Webbo]

I got a grant towards the water heating type solar last year, but the new tank would have been too big/heavy to fit anywhere so it had to be scrapped.

[HankMarvin]

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels/

[Crinklyfox]

3 hours ago, JamesO said:

Recently moved into our forever home and are looking into solar panels with the price of electric going mad. I work from home so will benefit more from the solar panels. Also no VAT on them at the moment. 

 

Wondered if anyone else has had them installed. Are they worth it? I am worried that in the winter we wouldn't get much power from them making it not worth it. Looking at getting a battery system had a quote for a 4.8kwh battery and 15 solar panels for £13,000. Moved to Northamptonshire if anyone has any recommendations nearby. 

 

Thanks. 

Same question came up a couple of weeks ago in another thread. 

 

I haven't had them installed at home but I was Chairman of our local bowls club when we decided to have them installed about five years ago.  Our Treasurer had done a few sums based on expected savings and reckoned it was in the best long term interests of the club.

 

So far the savings we have achieved have been far below those anticipated.  Plus our insurance now requires an annual inspection of the panels by a qualified person, we can't do it ourselves, which is an additional cost.  I don't know when, if ever, we will recover the outlay through savings on our electricity bill.  I certainly wouldn't do the same again.

[JamesO]

43 minutes ago, Crinklyfox said:

Same question came up a couple of weeks ago in another thread. 

 

I haven't had them installed at home but I was Chairman of our local bowls club when we decided to have them installed about five years ago.  Our Treasurer had done a few sums based on expected savings and reckoned it was in the best long term interests of the club.

 

So far the savings we have achieved have been far below those anticipated.  Plus our insurance now requires an annual inspection of the panels by a qualified person, we can't do it ourselves, which is an additional cost.  I don't know when, if ever, we will recover the outlay through savings on our electricity bill.  I certainly wouldn't do the same again.

Good point regarding insurance. Slipped my mind that i would have to tell them then this will increase the house insurance. 

[kenny]

4 hours ago, JamesO said:

Recently moved into our forever home and are looking into solar panels with the price of electric going mad. I work from home so will benefit more from the solar panels. Also no VAT on them at the moment. 

 

Wondered if anyone else has had them installed. Are they worth it? I am worried that in the winter we wouldn't get much power from them making it not worth it. Looking at getting a battery system had a quote for a 4.8kwh battery and 15 solar panels for £13,000. Moved to Northamptonshire if anyone has any recommendations nearby. 

 

Thanks. 

Its not been worth it for us and we have the same sized system you have suggested.

 

That being said my app says I have saved 1088kg of Co2 which means I can laud it over idiots that think they are helping the environment by gluing themselves to stuff.

 

I would look at the Tesla system as the fee in tariff is considerably better than anything else on offer. The crap FIT is the reason that solar panels are sham IMO.

[Saxondale]

Do the people who install these things do any sort engineering design and subsequent improvements to the roof before sticking them on?

 

I’ve seen a house identical to mine on the same estate has had some installed, and I know for the fact that the engineered trusses used in the roof construction are not designed to be load bearing. 

[Stivo]

19 minutes ago, Saxondale said:

Do the people who install these things do any sort engineering design and subsequent improvements to the roof before sticking them on?

 

I’ve seen a house identical to mine on the same estate has had some installed, and I know for the fact that the engineered trusses used in the roof construction are not designed to be load bearing. 

A single row seems to be generally considered ok for engineered  trusses.

 

https://www.labc.co.uk/sites/default/files/labcpd0914_techg_solar_panels.pdf

 

It’s worth looking how the cold water tank is supported as that can add a big loading. 

Edited 7 April 2022 by Stivo

[Strokes]

2 hours ago, Saxondale said:

Do the people who install these things do any sort engineering design and subsequent improvements to the roof before sticking them on?

 

I’ve seen a house identical to mine on the same estate has had some installed, and I know for the fact that the engineered trusses used in the roof construction are not designed to be load bearing. 

20kg per panel plus the mounting frame and additional stresses in high wind. It definitely should be picked up on a survey.

[kenny]

On 07/04/2022 at 09:23, Saxondale said:

Do the people who install these things do any sort engineering design and subsequent improvements to the roof before sticking them on?

 

I’ve seen a house identical to mine on the same estate has had some installed, and I know for the fact that the engineered trusses used in the roof construction are not designed to be load bearing. 

They don't carry out any checks at all. Its all a bit dodgy, a trussed roof is likely to be fine as they will be designed for snow loads that realistically won't been seen. For a traditional roof, they are likely to be at failure point without the extra panels.

 

There aren't the margins to pay for the £500+ it would take to have the roof properly assessed by a structural engineer.

[splinterdream]

On 06/04/2022 at 14:06, JamesO said:

I have enquired about solar to heat the water. But unfortunately we have a combi boiler and have been told its not possible. 

It is possible, but you'd need a cylinder, and then you would pipe off your combi which would convert it to a system boiler. The cylinder would then be heated using an immersion in the summer and you'd use the boiler as a heat only boiler to do heating and hot water (boosted) in the winter.

[Parafox]

We've got solar panels and we have a feed-back tariff whereby we get a certain amount of FVCKING PIGEONS NESTING UNDER THEM THAT DROP SH1T ALL OVER OUR CONSERVATORY ROOF AND PATIO AND WE CAN'T GET RID OF THE FILTHY NOISY BASTARDS!!!! 

[ian__marshall]

I'm seriously looking to invest in a system with battery storage. Being offered 14 panels with a choice of battery sizes with the largest being 9.1Kwh. If I choose to go down the 9.1Kwh battery route it's coming out at about £16k for kit, site surveys, installation, etc. I know very little about the Solar Market, is this reasonable? 

 

I estimate we currently use around 4,800Kwh per year of electricity so looking to generate at least 4,500Kwh per year from the panels, but noticed from the quotation site I'm using that they claim that I'll only be able to use circa 3,500Kwh per year of the energy generated even with battery storage. I'm a bit confused as to why that would be. Can anyone please advise? 

[Robo61]

1 hour ago, ian__marshall said:

I'm seriously looking to invest in a system with battery storage. Being offered 14 panels with a choice of battery sizes with the largest being 9.1Kwh. If I choose to go down the 9.1Kwh battery route it's coming out at about £16k for kit, site surveys, installation, etc. I know very little about the Solar Market, is this reasonable? 

 

I estimate we currently use around 4,800Kwh per year of electricity so looking to generate at least 4,500Kwh per year from the panels, but noticed from the quotation site I'm using that they claim that I'll only be able to use circa 3,500Kwh per year of the energy generated even with battery storage. I'm a bit confused as to why that would be. Can anyone please advise? 

I'm no expert,  but as I understand it,  the figure for the electricity generated is over the whole year.  Most of that will be produced during the summer months,  when your consumption is at it's lowest.  The batteries are used to store some of that excess electricity for later usage,  but in order to store all the summer generated electricity you would need very large batteries,  that would render the whole project uneconomical.

[kenny]

7 minutes ago, Robo61 said:

I'm no expert,  but as I understand it,  the figure for the electricity generated is over the whole year.  Most of that will be produced during the summer months,  when your consumption is at it's lowest.  The batteries are used to store some of that excess electricity for later usage,  but in order to store all the summer generated electricity you would need very large batteries,  that would render the whole project uneconomical.

This is about right in my experience. A reasonably typical work day is here when the house is empty.

 

 

I have a plug in hybrid, you can see in the dark blue when i got home and plugged in.

 

It would be ideal for someone that works nights as the feed in tariffs are poor.

 

If the government want to make a meaningful inroad into green energy production they could set the feed in tariff at 80% of whatever the provider charges. This would make them more viable.

 

 

[ian__marshall]

5 hours ago, Robo61 said:

I'm no expert,  but as I understand it,  the figure for the electricity generated is over the whole year.  Most of that will be produced during the summer months,  when your consumption is at it's lowest.  The batteries are used to store some of that excess electricity for later usage,  but in order to store all the summer generated electricity you would need very large batteries,  that would render the whole project uneconomical.

 

4 hours ago, kenny said:

This is about right in my experience. A reasonably typical work day is here when the house is empty.

 

 

I have a plug in hybrid, you can see in the dark blue when i got home and plugged in.

 

It would be ideal for someone that works nights as the feed in tariffs are poor.

 

If the government want to make a meaningful inroad into green energy production they could set the feed in tariff at 80% of whatever the provider charges. This would make them more viable.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback guy's, makes sense. 

 

Any idea what the yield is from the panels during the winter months when sunlight is at its lowest and for shorter periods? 

[kenny]

5 minutes ago, ian__marshall said:

 

Thanks for the feedback guy's, makes sense. 

 

Any idea what the yield is from the panels during the winter months when sunlight is at its lowest and for shorter periods? 

 

 

We have a 5.2kw system and max out at around 20kw on a really sunny day.

 

Barely does anything in winter.

[ian__marshall]

19 hours ago, kenny said:

 

 

We have a 5.2kw system and max out at around 20kw on a really sunny day.

 

Barely does anything in winter.

Thanks for sharing Kenny. I knew the panels were less efficient in the winter months but didn't realise that they produce hardly any electricity, that's a concern. 

 

What do you generally yield over the course of a year? The online survey that I completed suggests from a 4,500kwh system with 9.1Kwh battery I'll achieve an annual consumption yield of 69% but I'm unsure how accurate this is and whether its likely to be over exaggerated to sell the system. 

[kenny]

6 minutes ago, ian__marshall said:

Thanks for sharing Kenny. I knew the panels were less efficient in the winter months but didn't realise that they produce hardly any electricity, that's a concern. 

 

What do you generally yield over the course of a year? The online survey that I completed suggests from a 4,500kwh system with 9.1Kwh battery I'll achieve an annual consumption yield of 69% but I'm unsure how accurate this is and whether its likely to be over exaggerated to sell the system. 

We got the system midway through September so are still figuring it out, that's the full generated data I have at the moment.

 

It would save you more money if you use the electricity that you generate rather than selling it. We don't as we work during the day so it's less effective for us than someone that works at home.

 

I'm on 2800kwh for the year so far but we have a smaller battery than that. A bigger one would have benefited us I suspect though it does up the cost considerably.